Friday, 28 April 2017

He was born in Kovno,
Lithuania. He graduated as an electrical
engineer from Kovno University. He was
an active leader of the Jewish Folks-partey (People’s party) in Lithuania. He served as secretary of the central
administration of the Jewish artisans’ union in Kovno. From 1925 he was a contributor to the Yiddish
press in Lithuania. He published
articles on Jewish artisans’ issues in: Der
bal-melokhe (The craftsman) (1925-1926), Folksblat (People’s newspaper) (1930-1938), and Yidisher hantverker (Jewish craftsman)
(1938-1940), of which he was also secretary of the editorial board—all in
Kovno. He was among the first Jewish
victims of the Nazis, when they occupied Kovno.

He was born in Voznesensk, Kherson
district, southern Russia, where his father was a lawyer. He received his education in Voznesensk and
Odessa. He worked with a notary, for a
time dealt in grain, and later made his way to London where he worked as a
proofreader and typesetter in various Russian publishing houses. With the founding of Der tsayt (The times), edited by Morris Meyer, he was a regular
contributor, news editor, and editorial board secretary, and he translated and
adapted a string of novels for the newspaper, such as: Di levone fun yisroel (The moon of Israel),[1]Di tokhter fun yude (Judah’s daughter),[2] and Der yidisher funk (The Jewish spark), about Jewish and Arab life in
Palestine—these were later republished in Yidishe
tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper) in New York and in Frimorgn (Morning) in Riga.

He was born in Pinsk, into a
prominent family. He received a
religious education, later acquiring a secular education on his own. He debuted in print in 1890 with a poem
“Harokhel haivri” (The Jewish peddler), which appeared in the collection Kneset hagedola (The great
assembly). In 1897 Hamelits (The advocate) published his stories: “Bashefel hamadrega”
(At the bottom of the scale) and “Meḥayil
el ḥayil” (From
strength to strength). In 1893
Ben-Avigdor brought out his story “Nekudat hakesef” (The point of money). That very year, there appeared in Vilna
Lifshits’s translation of Max Bodenheimer’s German pamphlet concerning the
Jewish Colonial Trust (bank) in London.
Hi lullaby, “Shir haeresh” (Song of the cradle), published in Luaḥ aḥiasef
(1893), was sung in public and was very popular. His Taares
hamishpokhe (Marital fidelity) (Riga, 1935/1936), 24 pp., was translated
from other languages into Hebrew. He
edited and published in 1900 Pinsker
shtot-luekh (Pinsk city calendar), with articles in Yiddish and
Hebrew. He was an important Zionist
leader in Pinsk. During WWI he lived in
Russia, and on his way back to Pinsk (after the armistice) he died unexpectedly
in Danzig.

The younger brother of Shiye-Mortkhe
Lifshits, he completed rabbinical training in Zhitomir and took up
teaching. He was close to the Socialist-Revolutionary
circles. Arrested several times, he led
a struggle against the anti-democratic conduct of the “philistine rule” (a form
of self-management in Tsarist Russia) in Berdichev, and in general he displayed
a temperament of a community leader, though he did not have the appropriate
surroundings or favorable circumstances.
Probably under the influence and perhaps also with the assistance of his
older brother, he published Di risishe
gramatike oyf yudesh (Russian grammar in Yiddish) (Zhitomir: Y. M. Baksht,
1875), 58 pp., written in a pure language, with an interesting, occasionally
quite successful, terminology and a well thought out orthography, according to
his brother’s system. He also left in
manuscript a dictionary entitled Erklerung
af yudesh fun di fremde verter vos vern banitst in der russishe shprakhe aroysgigeben
nokh mikhelzohn (Explanation in Yiddish of the foreign words used in the Russian
language published by Mikhelzohn), located in the Strashun Library in Vilna,
mentioned by Zalmen Reyzen. In his late
years, he was thought to have supported assimilation. He died before WWI in Kiev.

He was born in Radom, Poland. His father ran a “cheder metukan” (improved
religious elementary school). He studied
with his father, in a Polish high school, and privately, before becoming a
laborer. In 1927 he immigrated to
Canada. He first years there he worked
as an assistant librarian in the Montreal Jewish Public Library, while at the
same time studying at university. Until
1956 he was a prominent leader in the Jewish and general Communist movement in
Canada. He was also (1944-1953) a
leading activist in the Canadian Jewish Congress. After the war he visited Poland, the state of
Israel, the Communist satellite countries, and Western Europe. In 1956 he visited the Soviet Union and
returned from there disappointed in Communist politics and withdrew from the
Communist Party of Canada; he wrote about this in the Yiddish and English press
in Canada and the United States. He debuted
in print in Rademer-keltser lebn (Radom-Kielce
life) in 1926; and until 1933 he published articles in: Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal, Der idisher zhurnal (The Jewish journal) in Toronto, and
elsewhere. From 1933 he wrote for and
edited: Der kamf (The struggle), Der veg (The way), and later for Vokhnblat (Weekly newspaper) in Toronto
(1943-1956). He also contributed to: Hamer (Hammer), Morgn-frayhayt (Morning freedom), Yidishe kultur (Jewish culture), and Eynikeyt (Unity)—in New York; Naye
prese (New press) in Paris; and Folks-shtime
(Voice of the people) in Warsaw. He was
editor of the English-language New Voice
(1947-1949) in Toronto and an active contributor to Canadian Tribune—in Montreal.
After his split with the Communist movement, he went on to write for Keneder odler and Der idisher zhurnal, as well as Rademer
shtime (Voice of Radom) in Toronto.
He was active in the printers’ union, in the association of those from
Radom, and in the campaign for Histadrut.
He died in Toronto.

He came from Ukraine. Until 1937 he lived in Kharkov and Kiev. He was a leader in the Komerd (Committee forLand Settlement of Jewish Laborers [Komzet in Russian]) and Gezerd (All-Union Association for the
Agricultural Settlement of Jewish Workers in the USSR) movements. He was also a manager in the social-economic
section of the Institute for Jewish Proletarian Culture at the Ukrainian
Academy of Sciences, and he traveled around with its brigade researching the
condition of the Jewish town after the Revolution. He wrote for: Der shtern (The star) and Royte
velt (Red world) in Kharkov; and Proletarishe
fon (Red banner) in Kiev (1930-1936); as well as Radians׳ka Ukraïna
(Red Ukraine) in Kiev, in which he published articles on socio-economic questions. He penned a series of anonymous pamphlets of
Gezerd agitation literature in Yiddish and in Russian—see, for example, Proletarishe fon (January 29,
1932). His book, Vegn shtetl (On the town) (Kharkov-Kiev, 1932), 69 pp., was a
polemic on the transformed structure of the Jewish town after the October
Revolution, including such authors as: I. I. Vaytsblit, “Vegn altn un nayem
shtetl” (On the old and new town); A. Skuditski, “Dos ekonomishe lebn in
yidishn shtetl” (The economic life in the Jewish town); and M. Kiper, “Dos
yidishe shtetl in ukraine” (The Jewish town in Ukraine); among others. In 1937 he was arrested for “Jewish nationalism”
and thereafter no one heard anything about him.

He was born in Warsaw, Poland. He studied music in the Warsaw
Conservatory. He was a writer for Polish
revue theaters. During WWII he was
confined in the Warsaw Ghetto and in German camps. He was liberated by the American army, and he
lived thereafter in survivors’ (displaced persons’) camps in Germany, where he
was a cofounder of a revue theater “Di goldene pave” (The golden peacock) for
which he wrote a series of numbers and prepared (together with Vera Haken) the
program “Az men lebt, derlebt men” (If you live long enough, you’ll see
everything [freely translated]). From
1950 he was in the United States. At
first, he wrote satirical poems in Polish and published them in Szpilki(Pins) and
other Polish satirical magazines. In the
Warsaw Ghetto, he switched to Yiddish and wrote song which were sung as folk
tunes of anonymous writers; a number of them were later included in his book Tsu zingen un tsu zogn (To sing and to
speak) (Munich, 1949). He published his first
songs in Unzer shtime (Our voice) in
Bergen-Belsen (1946), and from that point he contributed to: Unzer veg (Our way), Dos vort (The word), and Yidishe bilder (Jewish images) in
Munich. In book form: Lebedik amkho, a zamlung lider (Ordinary
living Jews, a collection of songs) (Bergen-Belsen, 1946), 32 pp.; Tsu zingen un tsu zogn (To sing and to
speak), “ghetto, folk, and Israeli songs” (Munich, 1949), 80 pp. From 1963 he was living in Chicago,
where he died.

Thursday, 27 April 2017

The
son of Yankev Halevi Lipshits, he was born in Vilyampolye (Vilijampole), near
Kovno, Lithuania. He attended religious elementary
school and studied with his father and in yeshivas. He acquired secular knowledge with private
tutors. He later supported himself by
running a small dry-goods store and by selling his own and his father’s
religious texts. He was a leader in the
Orthodox Agudat Yisrael and Aḥdut (Unity) in Lithuania. He published essays and assembled sayings
from the Talmud and Midrashim in Orthodox publications out of Kovno: Idisher lebn (Jewish life) (1922-1926,
1933), Der ortodoksisher idisher lebn
(The Orthodox Jewish life) (1934), Di
idishe velt (The Jewish world) (1934), and Haneeman (The faithful) in Telz, among others. In Kovno’s Folksblat (People’s newspaper), he ran (until 1937) a daily column
entitled “Mir gefelt es” (I like it). He
also contributed work to: Di idishe
shtime (The Jewish voice) in Kovno; Dos
vort (The word) in Vilna; Dos idishe
togblat (The Jewish daily newspaper) in Warsaw; and Beys-yankev zhurnal (Beys Yankev journal) in Lodz; among
others. His books include: Interesant un balerndik, a zamlung fun
talmudishe maymorim, aforizmen fun gdoyle-hador (Interesting and
instructive, a collection of Talmudic essays and aphorisms from giants of the
era) (Kovno, 1934), 96 pp.; Der gaystiker
prozhektor, a likht un vegvayzer in lebn (The spiritual searchlight, a
light and guide in life), four parts (Kovno, 1935-1938), each 84 pp.; Der lebediker shas (The living Mishna), on
the genius of Rogachov and other articles (Kovno, 1937), 88 pp., second edition
(1938), 104 pp.; Lebens-geshikhte
fun ṿelt-goen rabi yitskhok elkhonen un fun zayn zun hagoen rabi tsvi-hirsch rabinovits
(Biography of the brilliant Rabbi Yitskhok Elkhonen and of his son, the
brilliant Rabbi Tsvi-Hirsh Rabinovits) (Kovno, 1939), 105 pp.; Arikhes yomim, der veg fun lebn un glik far
eltern un kinder (Long life, the guide to life and happiness for parents
and children), published under the Lithuanian regime (Kaunus, 1940), 32
pp. He published his father’s
three-volume Zikhron yaakov (The
memory of Jacob) in Kovno from 1924; it also appeared in his German translation
(Frankfurt, 1925-1931), three parts. He
was murdered in the first Nazi mass murders of Slobodka Jews.

He was born in Pinsk, Byelorussia. He attended religious primary school, later
graduating from the Pinsk senior high school.
In 1906 he immigrated to the United States, living for a time in New York
and Philadelphia. In 1910 he returned to
Pinsk and served for four years in the Russian military. In WWI he was on the Russo-German front and
fell into German captivity. In late 1918
he returned to Pinsk and in 1935 made his way to Canada. He lived in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, and it
was there that he died. He debuted in
print with a poem entitled “Idilye” (Idyll) in Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor) in New York (1917); he
later published poetry, stories, and reportage pieces in: Forverts (Forward) until 1910, Der
amerikaner (The American) from 1935 until his death, and Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal)—in New
York; Keneder odler (Canadian eagle)
in Montreal; and other serials. He was
the chief contributor and actual editor of: Pinsker
lebn (Pinsk life) (1921-1922); Pinsker
vort (Pinsk word) (1923-1924); Pinsker
tribune (Pinsk tribune) (from 1925); Pinsker
shtime (Voice of Pinsk) (1928-1930); and Pinsker vokh (Pinsk week) (1931-1933). Among other items, he published: “Memuarn fun
a pinsker krigs-gefangenem” (Memoirs of a Pinsk prisoner of war); “Durkh farmaterte
vegn” (Along weary ways)—characters, images, and scenes from WWI; the series, “Romantishe
geshikhtes” (Romantic stories) which he reworked from English and American
literature. He also published under such
pen names as: Ben-Porat, Fidele, N. Idelson, and Der Lerer. He published articles and a collection of
Jewish humor in the English-language Cape
Breton Mirror (1951-1953.
Posthumously: Kheshbn hanefesh,
lider (Accounting of the soul, poems) (New York and Glace Bay, Nova Scotia,
1981), 149 pp.

Wednesday, 26 April 2017

He was born in a town near Kovno,
Lithuania. In 1931 he arrived in Israel,
where he was a painter and a carpenter, and he published poetry in Nayvelt (New world), Davar (Word), and Haarets (The land). He also
contributed to: Folksblat (People’s
newspaper) in Kovno and Frimorgn
(Morning) in Riga, among others. His Balade fun umbakantn soldat (Ballad of
an unknown soldier) was staged under his supervision by a workers’ troupe in
Tel Aviv. He died in Tel Aviv.

He was born in Vilkomir (Ukmergė), Lithuania, son of the
Vilkomir preacher Leyzer-Lipman Lipshits.
He attended yeshiva in Keydan (Kėdainiai). His
pious articles in the style of Orthodox essayists in opposition to the Jewish
Enlightenment appeared in Halevanon (The
Lebanon), Maḥzike hadat
(Supporters of the faith), and other serials earned him a reputation in
Lithuania, especially in devout circles.
In 1870 he became an elementary school teacher in the Kovno Talmud
Torah, later secretary to the Kovno rabbi, Yitskhok-Elkhonen Spektor, and over
the course of twenty-six years he served as the rabbi’s right-hand man. With a string feeling for community matters,
he was an important leader in the Orthodox world and led the struggle against
followers of the Jewish Enlightenment, the adherents of the “Tikunim bedat”
(Religious reformers), and later also against the modern Jewish movements. As one of the leaders of the “Halishka hasheḥora” (The black bureau),
he contributed to all the rabbinical assemblies and conferences in Russia and
Europe. Aside from articles in the
Orthodox press—such as: Hakerem (The
vineyard), Hapeles (The balance), and
Hatsfira (The siren), among others—he
also published scholarly texts, translated into Hebrew Samson-Raphael Hirsch’s Neunzehn Briefe über Judentum (Nineteen letters on Judaism) as Igrot tsafon. In Yiddish he
published the religious text, Goen-yitskhok,
di tolade (lebns-geshikhte) fun rebeynu hagoen hagodl… (The brilliant
Isaac, the story [life history] of our rabbi, the brilliant, great… [Yitskhok-Elkhonen
Spektor]) (Vilna: Romm, 1899), 191 pp.
After being expelled from Kovno, he lived in Ukraine. In the late summer of 1921, he returned to
Kovno where he soon thereafter died. He
left behind in Hebrew-language manuscript his memoirs, which covered over fifty
years of his activity and is of immense cultural historical interest. These memoirs, Zikhron yaakov (The memory of Jacob),
were published in three parts (Frankfurt-Kovno, 1924-1930). His son Note Lipshits published the first
part in Kovno-Slobodka (1924), 242 + 31 pp.
It carries approbations from many rabbis.

He was born in the village of Pukhovitsh
(Pukhavichy), Minsk district, Byelorussia.
He attended religious elementary school and yeshivas in Bobruisk, Slutsk,
and Mir. He later worked as a private
Hebrew teacher in Minsk. In 1904 he
moved to the United States and settled in New York. He was a teacher there, a director of a
yeshiva in Brooklyn, and a merchant. He
traveled for several years through the United States, giving speeches on behalf
of the settlement in the land of Israel.
He wrote articles for Hamelits
(The advocate) in Odessa, and he later contributed to Hatsfira (The siren) and Der
yud (The Jew) in Warsaw-Cracow. In
America he wrote for the New York-based: Yidishe
gazetten (Jewish gazette), Tog
(Day), Morgn-zhurnal (Morning
journal), and Yidishes tageblat
(Jewish daily newspaper) in which he was in charge of a column entitled “Shtiklakh
un breklakh” (Bits and crumbs). He edited
Brukliner naye tsaytung (Brooklyn’s
new newspaper) in 1911. He co-edited (together
with H. Royzenblat) Detroyter vokhenblat
(Detroit weekly newspaper) (1916-1917), and (together with Dr. Y. Elfenbeyn)
the weekly periodical Di shtime fun folk
(The voice of the people) in New York (1932).
In book form: Zikh gefunen,origineler roman fun der idisher nayer tkufe
(Found, an original novel of the new Jewish era) (New York, 1927), vol. 1, 352
pp., vol. 2, 357 pp. The novel is concerned
with Jewish life in America and in Tsarist and Bolshevik Russia, as well as in
Israel of the pioneers.

He was born in Bialystok to a father
who was a follower of the Jewish Enlightenment.
He graduated from the Darmstadt Polytechnic and practiced as an engineer
abroad. In 1923 he returned to
Bialystok, where in 1927 he was chosen to be a member of the city council and
became a leader of the technical division at city hall. He wrote articles on municipal and community
matter for local Yiddish newspapers. He
was killed during the Nazi occupation of Bialystok.

His was born in Satanov (Sataniv),
Podolia. In 1910 he moved to the United
States and received a traditional Jewish education together with his secular
education. He studied at the City
University of New York (1918-1921) and Columbia University (1922), at the
University of Berlin (1923), and in 1924 he received his doctoral degree from
Columbia. He served as professor of
comparative literature and head of the Department of Germanic and Slavic
Languages at City College in New York.
He published his writings in academic journals and in encyclopedias in
English and German. His published books
include: The Weavers in German Literature
(Baltimore, 1926), 108 pp.; Lyric Pioneers
of Modern Germany: Studies in German Social Poetry (New York, 1928), 187
pp.; Heine (New York, 1928), 310 pp.;
From Novalis to Nietzsche: Anthology of Nineteenth
Century German Literature (New York, 1929), 607 pp.; Arthur Schnitzler (New York, 1932), 275 pp.; Historical Survey of German Literature (New York, 1936), 300 pp.; Richard Beer-Hofmann (New York, 1936),
111 pp.; Germany’s Stepchildren
(Philadelphia, 1944), 297 pp.; The
English Legend of Heinrich Heine (New York, 1954), 191 pp. In the mid-1940s he submitted a memorandum to
the Council on Higher Education in New York concerning the introduction of
Yiddish courses at City College, and Yiddish for the first time in the history
of American universities became a fully recognized subject for which students
received academic credit. Later, other
New York colleges and universities also introduced Yiddish courses. Liptzin contributed to YIVO publications: Yivo-bleter (Pages from YIVO), Yidishe shprakh (Yiddish language), and Yivo Annual of Social Science. He also wrote for the monthly Tsukunft (Future), the English-language In Jewish Bookland, and other
serials. In book form, he wrote the
following works in English: Peretz
(New York: YIVO, 1947), 379 pp., in which he provided Perets’s text in Yiddish
parallel to Liptzin’s translation; Eliakum
Zunser: Poet of His People (New Yor, 1950), 243 pp., also in a Hebrew
translation by Yaakov Adini (Tel Aviv, 1953), 200 pp.; Generation for Decision: Jewish Rejuvenation in America (New York,
1958), 300 pp., a cross-section of Jewish cultural history in America. Over the years 1953-1956, he served as editor
of Jewish Book Annual in New
York. He was president (1936-1937) of
the American organization of “Judenstaat Zionism”; president (1952-1954) of the
Jewish book council; chairman (1960) of the commission for Yiddish matters at
the American Jewish Congress; chairman (1959) of the managing committee of the “Great
Yiddish Dictionary”; member of the academic council and directors’ council of
YIVO; and a delegate to the second conference of World Jewish Culture Congress
in 1959. In 1962 he moved to Israel and
settled in Jerusalem. Until 1964 he was
professor at the Haifa Technion, and at the American College in Jerusalem
(1968-1974). He later wrote a series of
books about Yiddish literature: The
Flowering of Yiddish Literature (New York, 1963), 246 pp.; The Maturing of Yiddish Literature (New
York, 1970), 282 pp.; A History of
Yiddish Literature (New York, 1972), 521 pp.; Einführung in die Jiddische Literatur (Introduction to Yiddish
literature) (Stuttgart, 1978), 180 pp. He
died in Jerusalem.

Tuesday, 25 April 2017

He was born in Warsaw, Poland, into
a family that drew its pedigree back to Yeḥezkel Landau [1713-1793], the Noda Beyehuda (“known
in Judah”). He studied in religious
elementary school, a small Hassidic synagogue, and the Ger yeshiva—and through
self-study he acquired secular knowledge.
From his early youth he was an active leader of “Agudat Shelume Emune Yisrael”
(Organization of the peaceful and faithful of Israel) and one of the directors
of “Tseire Emune Yisrael” (Young believers in Israel) and of Poale
Agudat-Yisrael (Workers of Agudat Yisrael) in Poland. He began his writing works with lyrical
poetry in Hebrew and published in the monthly Deglanu (Our banner) in Warsaw (1920), which he was then co-editing,
and from that time he went on to publish poems, Hassidic tales, historical
novels, and journalistic articles in: Der
yud (The Jew), Dos yudishe togblat
(The Jewish daily newspaper), Ortodoksishe
yugend-bleter (Orthodox youth sheets), Darkhenu
(Our path), Der flaker (The flare), Yugend-kreftn (Talents of youth) which
he also edited in 1926, Hayom
(Today), and Moment (Moment)—in Warsaw;
Beys-yankev zhurnal (Beys Yankev
journal), Der idisher arbayter (The
Jewish worker), and Idishe
arbayter-shtime (Voice of Jewish labor)—in Lodz; Unzer veg (Our way) in Shedlets; Der idisher veg (The Jewish path) in Cracow; Dos vort (The word) in Vilna; and Bendiner vokhnblat (Będzin weekly
newspaper); among other serials. In 1925
when B. Yushzon moved from Moment to Haynt (Today), for a time he wrote for Moment (using the name “Lukus”) feature pieces
and political-polemical essays in Yushzon’s style. He later became a polemicist in Yudishes tageblat (Jewish daily
newspaper) and reacted in his daily features and articles to Jewish and world
politics with a distinctive style. He
also published there the historical stories: Don yitskhok abarbanel, shpanende historishe ertseylung (Don Isaac
Abarbanel, a thrilling historical story); Bay
di bregen fun rhayn (On the banks of the Rhine)—which appeared in book form
in Hebrew as Al gadot harhayn (On the
banks of the Rhine) (Jerusalem, 1958/1959), two parts, 110 pp.—Tsvishn tsvey heymen (Between two homes);
and the monographs Noda Beyehuda (later
published in Hebrew [Jerusalem, 1960], 136 pp.) and Khasam soyfer (Chatam Sofer), among others. He was the author of the hymn of Poale Agudat
Yisrael, “Nisht fartsveyflen” (Don’t despair), and other songs, which were used
in the Beys Yankev schools in Poland.
During the Nazi occupation of Poland, he was confined in the Warsaw
Ghetto. He worked in the ghetto mail
(1941), continuing his writing and remaining active in “Jewish self-help.” According to one source, on September 10,
1942, during the pass expulsion from the ghetto, he was sent from Umschlagplatz
(the collection point in Warsaw for deportation) to Treblinka and killed
there. Others claim that he died
in the Warsaw Ghetto the next year. He
also wrote under such pseudonyms as: Lukus, Lupus, Lamed-Vov, L. Zev, Politikus,
Vel, Velvele, and Yekusiel. His poetry
and stories were republished in Udim
(Firebrands) (Jerusalem, 1960), pp. 193-95, 330-35.

He was born in Kuznitse
(Kurenets), Poland. He attended
religious primary schools and yeshivas, later becoming a follower of the Jewish
Enlightenment; he founded a private children’s school in Kovel (Kovle), and he later
moved it to Bialystok. He was the teller
of jokes and aphorisms. He was a member
of the Bialystok Jewish literary circle.
He published in Hebrew: Mikhtavim veḥidudim
(Letters and jokes) (Warsaw, 1901/1902), 64 pp.; Ezrat yisrael (Israel’s help) (Bialystok, 1929/1930), 158 + 70 pp.;
Sipure shaashuim (Entertainment
stories) (Warsaw, 1898), 122 pp., popular stories and anecdotes. In Yiddish: A bukh mit glaykhvertlekh (A book with aphorisms). He wrote articles and humorous sketches for: Byalistoker shtime (Voice of Bialystok),
Dos naye lebn (The new life), and Undzer lebn (Our life). Further information about him remains unknown.

He was born in Lodz, Poland. He attended religious elementary school and
later graduated from a seven-class Medem School in Lodz. In his youth he became a laborer. He was a member of the drama studio “Baginen”
(Dawn). In 1939 when the Germans seized
Lodz, he left for Bialystok; he was arrested in 1940 by the Soviet authorities
and deported to labor camps. In 1946 he
returned to Lodz, and from the late 1940s he was living in Buenos Aires. He was active in the Perets School, YIVO, the
Bund, and the publishing house of Yidbukh.
He first wrote for the school journal Onzog (Message) in Lodz (1927) and from that point published in: Kleyne folkstsaytung (Little people’s
newspaper) and Yugnt-veker (Youth
alarm) in Warsaw; Lodzer veker (Lodz
alarm) and Dos naye lebn (The new
life) in Lodz; and Di prese (The
press) and Idishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper)
in Buenos Aires; among others. He also
contributed work to Unzer gedank (Our
idea) in Buenos Aires, in which he was in charge of a column entitled “Gehert,
geleyent, fartseykhnt” (Heard, read, noted).
From 1946 he served as the Argentinian correspondent for Unzer shtime (Our voice) in Paris. He received an award for a piece on the young
people at a YIVO conference in Vilna in 1932.
He also wrote under such pen names as: Y. Lival, Y. El-ski, Yitskhok
Rivkes, and Oyran Moiseevitsh. He died
in Buenos Aires.

The adopted name of H. Lifshits, he
came from Lithuania. At the end of the
nineteenth century, he moved to the United States. For many years he was news editor and feature
writer for Yidishes tageblat (Jewish
daily newspaper) in New York. He also
published under such pseudonyms as: H. Litvak and Gamliel. He was thought to have died in Florida.

The adopted name of Mortkhe
Yanodovski, he was born in Bialystok, Russian Poland. He attended modernized religious primary
schools and later the Radun yeshiva of the Chofets Chaim. He was a fierce follower of the Musar
movement. In 1903 he received a permit
to officiate as a rabbi. From a desire
to pursue his education, he left in 1905 for Antwerp, Belgium, where he
initially worked as a Hebrew teacher and later as an employee in the diamond industry. From 1907 he was publishing correspondence pieces,
articles, and features in: Hazman
(The time), Hatsfira (The siren), Hamevaser (The herald), Hayehudi (The Jew), and Haolam (The world). In 1912 he published in Belgium a humorous sheet
entitled Der antverpener lets (The
Antwerp clown). Together with Sh. Cohen,
Y. Kreplyak, and Y. Podruzhnik, in 1913 he founded the first Yiddish newspaper
in Belgium, the weekly Der mayrev
(The West), which was to be the organ of the Jewish communities in Belgium,
Holland, French, and Switzerland and for technical difficulties was published
in Copenhagen, Denmark (only four issues appeared in print). In the fall of 1913 he traveled to the United
States, and he contributed there to Hayom
(Today) and Kundes (Prankster), for
which he wrote the humorous editorials “Zalts un fefer” (Salt and pepper), as
well as feature pieces under the pen name Motele. From 1914 he was assistant editor of the
Zionist organ Dos yidishe folk (The
Jewish people), in which, aside from features, he published a translation of Moshe
Smilansky’s novel Toldot ahava aḥat
(Story of one love). He was later active
primarily in Hebrew. He co-edited Hatoran (The duty officer), edited Haivri (The Jew) (1916-1922), and published
translations of Dovid Bergelson’s Arum
vokzal (At the depot), Yitskhok-Meyer Vaysenberg’s Dos shtetl (The town), and Yoysef Opatoshu’s Hibru (Hebrew). In separate
editions, he translated: Knut Hamsun’s Pan,
mireshimotav shel haletenant tomas glan (Pan, from the papers of Lieutenant
Thomas Glahn [original: Pan]) (New
York, 1919), 169 pp.; and Opatoshu’s Beyaarot
polin, roman (In the Polish woods, a novel [original: Poylishe velder]) (New York, 1921), 268 pp. He also edited Luaḥ aḥiever,
vol. 2 (New York, 1921). In September 1921
he founded and edited the Hebrew-language daily Hadoar (The mail), later published as a weekly, and he went on to
become a regular writer for Yidishes
tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper), in which, aside from journalistic
articles and feature pieces, he published a translation of Chaim Chemerinsky’s autobiographical
work Mayn shtetl motele (My town of
Motele) and published a large collection of sayings and jokes entitled Yidishe gedolim, vi zey vertlen zikh (Jewish
giants, how they joked). In book form
the latter appeared under the title: Di
velt dertseylt, mayselakh un vertlakh, hanhoges un mides fun anshey-shem bay idn
(The world recounts, stories and sayings, behaviors and habits of famous people
among the Jews), 2 vols. (New York: Doyres, 1928); published in four volumes in
Hebrew as Midor dor (New York,
1937). In 1922 he published in Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves) in
Warsaw a fragment of a drama in two scenes, entitled “Der sagi nehor” (The
blind man). In 1930 he moved to Israel
and edited Bustenai (Bustenai)
(1931-1932). For several months in 1933 he
edited Doar hayom (Today’s
mail). Over the years 1938-1944, he
served as editor of the Mizrachi daily newspaper Hatsofe (The spectator). In
book form: a literary reworking of the Dubner preacher’s proverbs; translation
into Hebrew of Y. Y. Zinger’s Mishpokhe
karnovski (The family Carnovsky) as Bet
karnovski (Tel Aviv, 1945/1946), 479 pp.; of Opatoshu’s volume of stories Ven poyln iz gefaln (When Poland fell)
as Ḥurbn polin (The destruction of Poland) (New
York, 1947), 214 pp.; and of a book by Rudyard Kipling. In 1945 he worked as editor at the publishing
house Omanut, where he published a collection Moed (Holiday), which included chapters on the holidays from Midor dor. He died in Tel Aviv.

The literary name of Leybush Heler,
he was born in Kolomaye, Galicia, the son of Lipo Heler, a manufacturer of
prayer shawls. He published sketches and
miniatures in Lodz’s Beys-yankev zhurnal
(Beys Yankev journal). He also wrote in
Hebrew for Warsaw’s Deglanu (Our
banner). For a long time he lived in
Lemberg, where he was engaged in business and was an Orthodox leader. He was confined in the Lemberg ghetto, from
which he was deported (summer 1942) to the Bełżecdeath camp and murdered there.

He was born in a town in
Ukraine. After WWI he moved to Moscow
where he worked as a printer of the newspaper and publishing house of Emes (Truth). Over the years 1928-1929, he served in the
Red Army in the Far East and took part in battles against the Japanese military
on the front in Manchuria. Descriptions and
impressions from these experiences were published in Emes (1929), and they were later included in his book Afn mandzhurishn front,fartseykhnungen fun a roytarmeyer fun der vaytmizrekhdiker
roytfoniker armey (On the Manchurian front, notes of a Red Army soldier
from the Far Eastern red-banner army) (Moscow-Kharkov-Minsk, 1930), 149 pp.,
with a foreword by M. Kats and M. Kivertsev.

He was born in Nemoksht (Nemakščiai),
Kovno district, Lithuania, into a rabbinical family. He was a descendant of the brilliant scholar
Yom Tov Lipman. He was a young Jewish
scholar dedicated to research on the history of Jews in Lithuania. Until 1920 he lived in Nemoksht, Tsaykishok (Čekiškė),
and Kovno (Kaunus). He was a regular contributor
to Di idishe shtime (The Jewish
voice) in Kovno, in which he published essays on Lithuanian Jewry, descriptions
of earlier ways of life, and characterizations of Jewish personalities. He was a contributor and editor of record for
the biweekly newspaper Had lita (Echo
of Lithuania) in Kovno (1924-1933). He
edited a series of monographs under the title “Nusaḥ lita” (Lithuanian style), which also published his
own works: Letoldot hayehudim belita-zamot,
1400-1915 (History of the Jews in Lithuania and Zamot, 1400-1934) (Kaidan,
1934), 81 pp.; Letoldot hayehudim bekovna
uveslobodka min haet hakhi keduma ad hamilḥama haolamit (To the history of
the Jews in Kovno and Slobodka from the earliest period until the world war)
(Kaidan, 1934), 224 pp. He had in a
completed manuscript, “Geshikhte fun yidishe kehiles in lite” (History of
Jewish communities in Lithuania), and a handbook on Lithuania which were,
unfortunately, never published because of WWII.
He was murdered by the Nazis in the first months of their rule in
Lithuania.

The grandfather of Sholem Yelin, he
was born in Shedlets (Siedlce), Poland.
He attended religious elementary school and yeshivas, acquired the
reputation of a prodigy, and prepared to become a rabbi. After the traditional period of support from
his father-in-law, he became a bookseller and worked at it until he was quite
old. He was the founder of the first
Jewish lending library in his city, and although a religious man himself, he
nevertheless influenced youngsters in the spirit of the Jewish
Enlightenment. His first published
religious works were: Ḥanukat haḥashmonaim (Maccabees’ Hanukkah), adapted from
various sources (Warsaw, 1864), 48 pp.; and Paḥ
hashemen (The jug of oil) (Warsaw, 1866), 48 pp.—both written in Hebrew
with a Yiddish commentary. In both of
these volumes he also published his own first proverbs in stylized Yiddish,
which later, with a greater many more of them, appeared in a number of holiday
prayer books published in 1870s and 1880s in Warsaw. These were the proverbs known as “Proverbs of
Jacob” and “Star of Jacob.” He was also
the author of Mishley oves (Proverbs
of the fathers), “Ethics of the Fathers” with a homiletic Yiddish translation
(Warsaw, 1872), 102 pp.; Midrash pelia
(The midrash of Peliah) (Warsaw, 1895), 184 pp.; Vehaya mishna (Warsaw, 1876), 64 pp.; Am lemikra velemasoret (People of the text and tradition) (Warsaw, 1882),
96 pp.; Binat nevonim (Understanding
of the sagacious) (Warsaw, 1885), 120 pp.; Sefer
matamim (Book of delicacies) (Warsaw, 1889), 144 pp.; Shivḥe kneset yisrael (Praise for the congregation of Israel)
(Warsaw, 1890), 290 pp., in Hebrew-Aramaic and Yiddish; Sukot shalom (Tabernacles of peace) (Warsaw, 1891), 108 pp.,
explanation in stylized Yiddish of the prayers and customs of Sukkot, the “ushpizim”
[guests], and some of the religious laws); Sefer
matamim heḥadash (New book of delicacies) (Warsaw, 1894), 108 pp.; Lekhay oylem (To the life of the world)
(Warsaw, 1900), 162 pp., a shortened version in Yiddish of Maavar yabok (Fording of the Yabok); Meein haberakha (From the fountain of blessing) (Pyotrkov, 1911),
many other editions as well. He also
published (either without the name of the author or under the pen name Y. M’s) prayers
in Yiddish primarily for women, among others: Di tkhine fun resh khoydesh benshin (The prayer for the new month);
and Tkhine tsu di heylige teg (The
prayer for the holy days) (Warsaw, 1872), 13 pp. He translated into stylized Yiddish Gedulat moshe (The greatness of Moses [Gedules moyshe]) in verse (Warsaw, 1876)
and Di mesholim fun dubner magid (The
proverbs of the Dubner preacher) (Lublin, 1893), 138 pp. For many years he contributed work to: Hamagid (The preacher), Hamelits (The advocate), and Kol mevaser (Herald), among others. He published correspondence pieces from
Shedlets, poetry, puzzles, and liturgical poems (under such pen names as:
Yitskhok, M’s, and Y’mishedlets). He was
dubbed in his town “the raffleman,” because to everyone to whom he sold a book
he would also give a ticket which might win something valuable. He thus procured buyers and also readers for
his little library. He died in Shedlets.

He was born in Khotin (Khotyn),
Bessarabia. He studied with his father,
an itinerant elementary school teacher, and with other such teachers, and he
studied secular subjects as well. While
young he worked in a publishing house.
He made his way to Brazil in 1935, where a sister of his was
living. For a time he worked as a
peddler but he had no success with it.
He went on to serve as editor of San
pauler yidishe tsaytung (São Paolo Yiddish newspaper). He then became a teacher of Yiddish and
Hebrew at the school “Hateḥiya”
(The revival). When the government of
Getúlio Vargas published a decree that teachers at Jewish schools had to
possess a diploma from a general middle school, Lipiner learned Portuguese and
passed the examination. In 1941 his book
Oysyes dertseyln (The letters
explain) appeared with the subtitle: “Vor un legende in der geshikhte fun
yidishn alef-beys” (Reality and legend in the history of the Jewish alphabet) (São
Paolo, 119 pp., with drawings by Lazar Segal), an overview of the history of
square script, its origins, development, symbolic meaning, the legends around
the letters according to the Kabbala and Talmud, and more. Expanded and deepened, it was reprinted under
the title Di geshikhte fun a fargetert
ksav (The history of an idolized writing) (Buenos Aires: YIVO, 1956), 331
pp. Around 1944 when Yiddish was
forbidden in Brazil, for a time he was the unofficial editor of the Portuguese
Jewish weekly (Where
will we go). He also wrote for the
journal Ineynem (Altogether) in Buenos
Aires, a publication of the Culture Congress, and elsewhere. He studied law in Rio de Janeiro and
graduated as a lawyer. After acquiring a
thorough knowledge of Old Portuguese, he began researching Old Portuguese
documents concerning Jews in Portugal and Brazil in the past, and the result
was a book: Bay di taykhn fun portugal (By the
rivers of Portugal) (Buenos Aires: YIVO, 1949), 331 pp., a rare contribution to
Yiddish literature and to Jewish cultural and historical research. “Elye Lipiner,” wrote Dr. Shimen Bernshteyn, “has
enriched us with a gift, which will again warm the hearts of the Jewish
research and reader…. With his scholarly
erudition, with his lovely, fluid Yiddish, and fine, literary style, and with
his rich bibliography and his numerous notes, he has presented us with a text
that is truth, crisp and clean.” This
work was awarded the Louis Lamed Prize for 1949. In 1950 Lipiner founded in São
Paolo the newspaper Der nayer moment
(The new moment), published at first twice weekly and later as a weekly, for
which he served (1950-1952) as editor.
He also contributed the essay, “Yidn in brazil” (Jews in Brazil) for the
Algemeyne entsiklopedye (General
encyclopedia), "Yidn H" (pp. 385-98), was a contributor to the publications of
YIVO in Argentina, and contributed a piece in the collection Undzer baytrog (Our contribution) (Rio
de Janeiro, 1956). By 1968 he was living
in Israel, and in 1969 he graduated as a lawyer in Israel as well. He published works of research in: Bay zikh (On one’s own), Goldene keyt (Golden chain), and Gesher (Bridge), among others, in
Israel. His books include: Ideologye fun yidishn alef-beys (The
ideology of the Jewish alphabet) (Buenos Aires: YIVO, 1967), 596 pp.; Tsvishn maranentum un shmad (Between
Marrano-hood and conversion to Christianity) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1973),
491 pp. In Portuguese: Breve história dos judeus no Brasil (Short
history of the Jews in Brazil) (Rio de Janeiro, 1962), 151 pp.; Os judaizantes nas capitanias de Cima
(On Judaizers in the captaincies of Cima) (São Paolo, 1969), 223 pp.; Santa Inquisição, terror e linguagem
(Holy Inquisition, terror and language) (Rio de Janeiro, 1977), 147 pp.; O tempo dos Judeus, segundo as Ordenações
do Reino (The epoch of the Jews according to the king’s decrees) (São
Paolo, 1982), 248 pp.; Gaspar da Gama, um
converso na frota de Cabral (Gaspar da Gama, a convert in Cabral’s fleet) (Rio
de Janeiro, 1987), 276 pp.; Izaque de
Castro, o mancebo que veio preso do Brasil (Izaque de Castro, the young man
who came to Brazil) (Recife, 1992), 321 pp.; As Letras Do Alfabeto Na Criacao Do Mundo : Contribuicao e pesquisa da
natureza la linguagem (The letters of the alphabet in the creation of the world,
contribution and research on the nature of language) (Rio de Janeiro, 1992),
133 pp.; O sapateiro de Trancoso e o
alfaiate de Setúbal (The shoemaker of Trancoso and the tailor of Setúbal)
(Rio de Janeiro, 1993), 363 pp.; Gonçalo
Anes Bandarra e os cristãos-novos (Gonçalo Anes Bandarra and the New
Christians) (Trancoso and Lisbon, 1996), 245 pp.; Two Portuguese Exiles in Castile: Dom David Negro and Dom Isaac
Abravanel, translated from Portuguese by Menahem Pariente (Jerusalem: Magnes
Press, Hebrew University, 1997), 173 pp.; Os
baptizados em pé, estudos acerca da origem e da luta dos Cristãos-novos em
Portugal (The baptized on foot, studies on the origin and struggle of New
Christians in Portugal) (Lisbon, 1998), 492 pp.
And, a posthumous Festschrift:
Em nome da fé, estudos in memoriam de
Elias Lipiner (In the name of faith, studies in memory of Elias Lipiner),
eds. Nachman Falbel, Avraham Milgram, and Alberto
Dines (São Paolo, 1999), 279 pp. He
was a recipient of the Manger Prize. He
died in Israel.

Monday, 24 April 2017

He was born in Nyesvizh (Niasviž), Byelorussia.
He attended Vilna Talmud-Torahs and yeshivas. After acquiring secular subject matter, he
left for Moscow, and he studied in the drama course of the Philharmonia and
later became an extra at the “Little Theater” in Moscow. In 1891 he became a member of a wandering
Yiddish theater troupe, later becoming a Russian actor. In 1904 he departed for Germany, initially an
auditor at Darmstadt’s polytechnicum where through experimentation he developed
his phenomenal memory and made stage appearances demonstrating his feats. After returning to Russia, he organized the
Vilna “Jewish People’s Theater” which continued in existence until WWI. After the war he was a member of the
diplomatic corps of independent Lithuania.
He worked out a plan for a perpetual calendar—his calendar for 200
years, 1826-2025, was published in the illustrated supplement to the Forverts (Forward) in New York (December
28, 1924). He appeared with his
phenomenal memory experiments in a string of European and American
universities. In 1924 he restarted the
Vilna “Jewish People’s Theater.” He
often translated plays from other languages into Yiddish. In separate publications, he brought out the
one-act plays: Zi hot bazigt (She
conquered), Di damen-shpilke (The
ladies’ pin), Der damen-shnayder
(The women’s tailor), An advokat af a
halbe sho (A lawyer for half an hour), and Mit a gelegnheyt (With an opportunity)—all published in Vilna, no
dates of publication given. He died in
Vilna.

He was born in Mohilev (Mogilev),
Byelorussia. In his youth he moved with
his parents to a village near Warsaw. He
attended religious primary school, later turning his attention to
self-study. He served in the Tsarist
army, became ill with tuberculosis, went to treat it at a foreign sanitarium, and
at the same time continued his studies and received his doctoral degree in
economic science from the University of Berne in Switzerland. From late 1913 he was living in Warsaw, and
he was active in the Bund, in the society to combat illiteracy, and later in
Tsisho (Central Jewish School Organization).
In 1916 he began contributing work to the Bundist Lebens-fragen (Life issues) in Warsaw. In the anthology Karl marks (Karl Marx) (Warsaw, 1918), he published two pieces
entitled “Karl marks als ekonomist” (Karl Marx as economist) and “Di
geshikhte-filosofye fun karl marks” (The philosophy of history of Karl
Marx). He also placed work in the
collections of Unzer shtime (Our
voice) (Warsaw, August-November 1918) and in the yearbooks Arbeter-luekh (Workers’ calendar) (Warsaw, 1920-1926). Lipovski was the main statistician in
carrying out the Joint Distribution Committee’s questionnaire about Jewish
industry in Poland in 1921—the work resulting from the questionnaire was
published in three volumes: Yidishe
industryele unternemungen in poyln (Jewish industrial undertakings in
Poland) (Warsaw, 1922-1924). He also was
a regular contributor to: Virtshaft un
lebn (Economy and life) (1920-1931) and Bleter
far yidisher demografye, statistik un ekonomye (Jewish demography,
statistics, and economics) (1923-1925)—both in Berlin; Di kooperative bavegung (The cooperative movement) (1928-1939), Folks-hilf (People’s aid) (1931-1939),
and Dos virtshaftlekhe lebn (The
economic life) (1934-1935)—all in Warsaw; and Yivo-bleter (Pages from YIVO) (1934-1939) and Di yidishe ekonomye (The Jewish economy) (1937-1939)—both in Vilna;
among others. In the Warsaw Ghetto he
carried out various studies for the Joint concerning Jewish life in the ghetto,
among them the refugees who wandered from villages to Warsaw during the German
occupation. He was also among the
leadership of the Jewish underground cultural club known by the acronym “YIKOR”
in the ghetto. At the end of July 1942,
he was taken to Treblinka and murdered there.
As Dr. E. Ringelblum wrote, Dr. Lipovski “left behind him in the ghetto
an entire series of scholarly writings in the field of the Jewish economy in
Poland.” Unfortunately, these writings
were not found. He also wrote under such
pen names as: A. Lindeman and A Zokn.